TELEPHONE CALL FROM REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES DIGGS, 24 MAY 1978

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600330019-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 25, 1978
• Content Type: MFR

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Executive Registry
2 5 MAY 1978
SUBJECT: Telephone Call from Representative Charles Diggs,
24 May 1978
1. I had a phone call from Congressman Diggs the morning of
24 May. I returned his call at 1240.
2. The Congressman had read the story in the morning Washington
Post concerning my and David Aaron's approaches to Senator Clark
regarding possible support to various activities in and around Angola.
The Congressman wanted to remind me that the House International
Relations Subcommittee on Africa, which he chaired, was also involved
in these matters. He took umbrage at the fact that we had seen
Senator Clark and not himself. He wanted to know what the nature of
my approach to Senator Clark was; specifically, he was trying to find
out if we were about to undertake a program of support to Savimbi.
3. I told the Congressman that I was sent to the Hill--to
Senator Clark specifically because he was the author of the so-called
Clark Amendment. We wanted to understand what that Clark Amendment
was intended to mean. We could not consider all the alternatives
available to the Administration in Africa today without being sure of
the interpretation of the Clark Amendment. It was my position in
discussions on this subject that the Clark Amendment prohibited any
activity that could be considered support of guerrillas in Angola
and for all time. I said I had gone to Senator Clark to see if this
interpretation was correct, and he had said it was. I assured him I
had not gone up with a specific plan to try to sell; that was not my job
in any event because I was not a policy-maker.
4. The Congressman also complained that he had never had the
CIA volunteer when they had information that would be of value to him
and his subcommittee--he always had to call for it. I told him we
would try to do better on that score and to keep him posted.
25
AN FIE D UR ER
Director
cc: Legislative Counsel
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FRONT PAGE
Clar-;-v Fe
By Walter Pincus and Robert G. Kaiser
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sen Dick Clark: (D-Iuwa) said yesterday, "It is in-
creasingly clear that--President Carter has made the
decision to reinvolve the United States in the Angola
civil war."
Clark based his accusatio, on what he termed Carter
public --statements about the desirability of repealing the
so-called Clark amendment that precludes any U.S. aid to
promote military or paramilitary operations in Angola.
Clark said that if.Carter really does not want to re-
invoive the United States in Angola, "he ought to say
so."
White House press secretary Jody Powell said last
nib;ii : *The president has not made any decision to take
any action that would be contrary to the Clark amend-
men', or any law and is not going to."
Carter "has never said publicly or privately that he
tht:~ : it ought to be repealed," Powell said of the Clark
ameniimt:nt.
Poweil said that the administration is not trying "to
rush pelt melt into any entanglements," and that dis-
oussiug laws that preclude actions "didn't necessarily
mean the president wanted to take those actions."_.
It was learned yesterday that Carter's deputy national
secur't.y adviser, David Aaron, and Adm. Stansfield Tur
ner, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, called
on Clark earlier this month to discuss the transfer of
U.S. arms through third parties to Angolan and Ethi-
opian groups fighting Soviet- and Cuban-supported
forces.
The purpose of this U.S. aid would be to tie down the
Cubans in those two countries and make them reluctant
to enter the guerrilla war in Rhodesia, those officials
reportedly told Clark.
Turner is said to have shown Clark a plan outlining
transfer of equipment through a third party to the
United Front for the Total independence of Angola
(UNITA). led by Jonas. Savimbi, which is conducting a
guerrilla struggle against Angola's Marxist central gov-
ernment.
Clark reportedly told Turner such aid would be against
L.S. law, but said he would study the idea. When they
talked again a few days later, the Iowa senator strongly
opposed the idea.
Turner later reported on Clark's at-
titude to a National Security Council
meeting called to discuss possible aid
to UNITA in Angola. According to a
source, national security adviser Zbig
Brzezinski "groaned" on hear-
ing Turner's report.
Before Turner visited Clark, Brze-
zinski's deputy, Aaron, called on the
senator to talk about possible indirect
aid for Eritrean rebels fighting the
Ethiopian army supported by Cuban
troops and Soviet equipment. Aaron
also mentioned possible new U.S. aid
to Angola, but only vaguely, a source
said.
Powell said last night that Aaron's
visit was for "a general discussion
about Africa," and that Aaron did
not "present any proposal to Clark"
for new U.S. aid. -
Powell said that Turner had talked
to Clark "about what was possible
within the law," and "obviously used
several examples."
Powell also said that Turner's mis-
sion was not "to run any proposal
by Clark."
Reached by telephone last night,
Clark said Senate rules forbid him
from commenting on confidential
briefings from administration offi-
cials.
Sources said the proposal to renew
covert military aid to Angolan rebels
was hotly contested by State Depart-
ment officials. It was suggested that
proponents of the assistance hoped
to obtain Clark's acquiescence before
a final security council recommenda-
tion was made to the president.
In a related development yesterday,
Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.) de-
cided to challenge the administra-
tion's contention that congressional
restrictions have tied the president's
hands in Africa and made it difficult
to deal with the challenges posed
there by Soviet and Cuban interven-
tion.
In remarks to be delivered on the
Senate floor this week, McGovern will
say the administration appears to be
engaged in "a public relations ven-
ture." He implies that it is the work
of "certain officials whose frustration
at being unable to control complicated
international events - and to estab-
lish an image as tough-fisted wielders
of power - has compelled them to
place the blame on Congress."
The Washington Post reported last
Friday that the Carter administration
had been working for two months on
a plan to funnel arms and equipment
through other countries to African
guerrilla forces fighting Cuban and
other Soviet-backed troops in Ethiopia
and Angola.
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A CTTTI~T!'' T!- -MT -., ,....
CLARK.....
Apparently, that was the plan
Turner presented to Clark earlier this
month.
Clark's refusal to acquiesce pre-
ceded by several days the first public
expressions of frustration by the ad-
ministration about "restrictions" al-
:egedly impinging on presidential
_reedum of maneuver in Africa.
The White House has now repeated
those expressions of frustration sev-
eral times. but has not yet asked for
:pacific remedies.
Senate aides who spent Monday and
yesterday studying all existing legisla-
tive restrictions on the administra-
tion's freedom of action in Africa con-
cluded that there are only two sub-
!-.tantial ones. -
One is the Clark amendment. en-
acted in 1976, prohibiting involvement
in Angola. The second is the so-called
"Brooke amendment" prohibiting aid
to the government of Ethiopia.
Since the government of Ethiopia is
now avowedly hostile to the United
States and is being actively supported
by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the
Senate aides concluded that the only
operative restriction now in force is
the Clark amendment on Angola.
In a May 4 press conference, Carter
said. "We have no intention to inter-
((de in any war in Angola." A few
days after that Turner called on Clark
to outline the plan for transferring
arms to Angolan UNITA rebels.
White House officials noted yester-
day that Carter has never publicly
mentioned the Clark amendment. In
remarks to newspaper editors Friday,
Carter referred to "very tight con-
straint from laws that control my ac-
tion in Africa."
A list of congressional restraints is-
sued by the State Department over
the weekend did not list any other
than the Clark and Brooke amend-
ments as formally precluding presi-
dential action in Africa without any
escape clause.
Other legislative restraints can be
overridden if the president declares
the U.S. national interest is involved
-or words to that effect-before tak-
ing certain kinds of action.
One such restriction prohibits mili-
tary or paramilitary operations in
Zaire unless the president determines
that it is in this country's national se-
curity interest. Carter made such a
determination last week in authoriz-
ing participation in rescue operations
in Zaire.
McGovern would invite the adminis.
tration to submit legislative proposals
if it had specific ones in mind.
McGovern said the list of
"restrictions on presidential author-
ity" released by the State Department
"consisted of nothing more than a
compilation of those provisions of for-
eign aid law which establish certain
prohibitions or limitations" on U.S.
aid, which he called typical of foreign
aid law.
Though McGovern is often outside
the mainstream of Senate opinion,
well-placed Senate sources said yes-
terday that his. views on this issue
seem consistent with many members'.
The majority leader, Robert C. Byrd
(D-1V.Va.), has denied that Congress
has "tied the president's hands" in Af-
rica.
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